Kid Fonque is a name I’d not heard of until the end of 2019 but to many others he’s a DJ, Producer, Label Owner, Promoter and Radio Host that has been shaping South African electronic music for the last 20 years, breaking a host of the biggest names and tirelessly promoting new South African music across many genres. His own style embraces everything from broken beats, to Bossa nova, hip hop and house and thanks to his Stay True Sounds he’s got a killer label that introducing a global audience to the best of South African sounds and I've become something of a fan boy!
I was brought up in a household filled with music, my father loves music and my love for music started with him. We would go CD shopping when I was in my teens and he introduced me to a world of sounds from Classical to Soul & Rock.
It was, but not something I had aimed for. I was working as sales manager for the distribution side of the business and Brett Jackson was the label manager alongside Ricardo Da Costa. Unfortunately, Brett passed away from cancer and management thought I would be good for the job, it was a huge learning curve for me, but I wouldn’t be where I am today without the experience and jumping right into the deep end…
I was completely influenced by music from the other side of House Music. I grew up listening to Coldcut & DJ Food mixes from the Ninja Tune Label, also followed Mo’ Wax & James Lavelle and totally into Worldwide with Gilles Peterson, you could say I was submersed in the independent musical culture from the UK and religiously listened to BBC DJ’s.
I grew up listening to eclectic DJ’s and loved that you could be into a lot of genre’s, so I really focus on that with my weekly radio show, my productions and labels.
I feel I am all wrapped up into 1, my days are filled with every one of those roles, either signing new music for my label’s, or curating music for my radio show or promoting my monthly events.
Ah, I love being a Dad and I work for myself so I make the time for my son and I to do things during the week after his school. My son is a big part of my life and when he is old enough he will be joining me at gigs and seeing what I do.
Without a doubt Cape Town’s ‘We House Sunday’s’ parties are incredible, cant wait until I can get to go and play for them again.
Really depends on the gig, as I am filling my DJ sticks with music weekly for my radio shows mix I am pretty up to date so don’t prep too much and go with the mood of the event however if it’s a big festival I prep a bit more but not too much. I do like to go with the flow.
I think it has been about time and experience, as South African’s we used to always look out for inspiration but now we have the resources and equipment to make our own incredible music and there are so many producers that are making incredible music every day and a very hungry following who support these guys.
It’s my favorite thing to do every week. My radio show is called #SelectiveStyles and is on South Africa’s national radio station 5FM. I broadcast every Sunday from 5-7PM and the format has always been about breaking new artists and producers. This year the show will be 5 years old has given managed to support artists who are big in their respective genre’s like Dwson, Fka Mash, China Charmeleon, Sio, Seba Kaapstad and more… Listen to some of my shows here - https://www.mixcloud.com/kid_fonque/
Yeah, I did a wicked little TV show with Ballantine’s last year which focused on the emerging underground talent in SA. Lockdown has slowed things down this year but maybe we might be able to do Season 2 in 2021?
I love to play all sorts of music but do play a lot more SA deep house these days. When it comes to production, I think what you are making should represent where you are at. My new album which I am working on is a collaboration with UK’s Jonny Miller and is solely focused on the dance floor as that’s where I have mostly been for over a year now.
Standard Pioneer CDJ & Mixer set up with good turntable and I’m happy.
I am very sample based so I generally always start with that and work my way up.
I take very long to work on my own productions that why I enjoy collaborating. My peers work much faster than me and that helps us get the music out.
100%, I am always thinking of how tunes I am producing can be used to DJ.
Just do you, the more you do it the better you will sound. Some of the most successful producers that I put out on my labels are the ones that sound like them, no one else.
100%, I feel that my role is to create platforms for producers and artists that are not making commercial music.
Too many, you have to check out China Charmeleon, he is on fire right now. I’m also really into AndileAndy, Chronical Deep, DJ Takzin, Fka Mash and Nutty Nys.
I started the label with good friend Jullian Gomes. We always said we would start a label when I moved on from Soul Candi and when that day came along, we did. Jullian was part of the label for the 1st 2 years and then decided it was best for him to do his own thing. I have continued with the label since then and it is without a doubt one of the biggest independent house labels in South Africa.
I think it gave me more freedom to do what I feel and release who I want. There has been lots of learning going at it alone but also a lot of successes.
At a time when mediocrity and artifice dilute and diminish dance music, Kid Fonque has formulated the antidote. Enter ‘Stay True Sounds’, a new independent record label that places good taste over hits and longevity over trends. The label’s creative agenda is simple: to unearth, nurture and present real, evocative music.
There is not a lot of money in the new norm of streaming and it’s about understanding how to make decent money in this new world of playlists. I learnt from Soul Candi that if don’t create too many costs you can still create a business out of it.
Every week there are new labels and music coming out that I love but here are some one’s I can’t stop playing:
Nutty Nys – Ascend
Dj Thakzin – the Beginning
Everything from beatsbyhand and Rampa and do yourself a favor and check out NLite’s album.
Ah so many, I still can’t believe I have a radio show where I can play what I want, I love my labels and will continue to nurture them with great music from great artists.
I still have so many thing I want to do but I have ticked off some big things for this lifetime.
It has been tough as my main source of income (DJ’ing) was taken away from me, but I used all the energy I had on the label and its really payed off. I know I’ll look back at lockdown and be grateful for the time it allowed me to focus on the music.
As always, it’s all about the music, I have all the releases on the label scheduled up until Dec and I am looking forward to getting to play some great shows before year end.
Where can people follow you?
I was brought up in a household filled with music, my father loves music and my love for music started with him. We would go CD shopping when I was in my teens and he introduced me to a world of sounds from Classical to Soul & Rock.
It was, but not something I had aimed for. I was working as sales manager for the distribution side of the business and Brett Jackson was the label manager alongside Ricardo Da Costa. Unfortunately, Brett passed away from cancer and management thought I would be good for the job, it was a huge learning curve for me, but I wouldn’t be where I am today without the experience and jumping right into the deep end…
I was completely influenced by music from the other side of House Music. I grew up listening to Coldcut & DJ Food mixes from the Ninja Tune Label, also followed Mo’ Wax & James Lavelle and totally into Worldwide with Gilles Peterson, you could say I was submersed in the independent musical culture from the UK and religiously listened to BBC DJ’s.
I grew up listening to eclectic DJ’s and loved that you could be into a lot of genre’s, so I really focus on that with my weekly radio show, my productions and labels.
I feel I am all wrapped up into 1, my days are filled with every one of those roles, either signing new music for my label’s, or curating music for my radio show or promoting my monthly events.
Ah, I love being a Dad and I work for myself so I make the time for my son and I to do things during the week after his school. My son is a big part of my life and when he is old enough he will be joining me at gigs and seeing what I do.
Without a doubt Cape Town’s ‘We House Sunday’s’ parties are incredible, cant wait until I can get to go and play for them again.
Really depends on the gig, as I am filling my DJ sticks with music weekly for my radio shows mix I am pretty up to date so don’t prep too much and go with the mood of the event however if it’s a big festival I prep a bit more but not too much. I do like to go with the flow.
I think it has been about time and experience, as South African’s we used to always look out for inspiration but now we have the resources and equipment to make our own incredible music and there are so many producers that are making incredible music every day and a very hungry following who support these guys.
It’s my favorite thing to do every week. My radio show is called #SelectiveStyles and is on South Africa’s national radio station 5FM. I broadcast every Sunday from 5-7PM and the format has always been about breaking new artists and producers. This year the show will be 5 years old has given managed to support artists who are big in their respective genre’s like Dwson, Fka Mash, China Charmeleon, Sio, Seba Kaapstad and more… Listen to some of my shows here - https://www.mixcloud.com/kid_fonque/
Yeah, I did a wicked little TV show with Ballantine’s last year which focused on the emerging underground talent in SA. Lockdown has slowed things down this year but maybe we might be able to do Season 2 in 2021?
I love to play all sorts of music but do play a lot more SA deep house these days. When it comes to production, I think what you are making should represent where you are at. My new album which I am working on is a collaboration with UK’s Jonny Miller and is solely focused on the dance floor as that’s where I have mostly been for over a year now.
Standard Pioneer CDJ & Mixer set up with good turntable and I’m happy.
I am very sample based so I generally always start with that and work my way up.
I take very long to work on my own productions that why I enjoy collaborating. My peers work much faster than me and that helps us get the music out.
100%, I am always thinking of how tunes I am producing can be used to DJ.
Just do you, the more you do it the better you will sound. Some of the most successful producers that I put out on my labels are the ones that sound like them, no one else.
100%, I feel that my role is to create platforms for producers and artists that are not making commercial music.
Too many, you have to check out China Charmeleon, he is on fire right now. I’m also really into AndileAndy, Chronical Deep, DJ Takzin, Fka Mash and Nutty Nys.
I started the label with good friend Jullian Gomes. We always said we would start a label when I moved on from Soul Candi and when that day came along, we did. Jullian was part of the label for the 1st 2 years and then decided it was best for him to do his own thing. I have continued with the label since then and it is without a doubt one of the biggest independent house labels in South Africa.
I think it gave me more freedom to do what I feel and release who I want. There has been lots of learning going at it alone but also a lot of successes.
At a time when mediocrity and artifice dilute and diminish dance music, Kid Fonque has formulated the antidote. Enter ‘Stay True Sounds’, a new independent record label that places good taste over hits and longevity over trends. The label’s creative agenda is simple: to unearth, nurture and present real, evocative music.
There is not a lot of money in the new norm of streaming and it’s about understanding how to make decent money in this new world of playlists. I learnt from Soul Candi that if don’t create too many costs you can still create a business out of it.
Every week there are new labels and music coming out that I love but here are some one’s I can’t stop playing:
Nutty Nys – Ascend
Dj Thakzin – the Beginning
Everything from beatsbyhand and Rampa and do yourself a favor and check out NLite’s album.
Ah so many, I still can’t believe I have a radio show where I can play what I want, I love my labels and will continue to nurture them with great music from great artists.
I still have so many thing I want to do but I have ticked off some big things for this lifetime.
It has been tough as my main source of income (DJ’ing) was taken away from me, but I used all the energy I had on the label and its really payed off. I know I’ll look back at lockdown and be grateful for the time it allowed me to focus on the music.
As always, it’s all about the music, I have all the releases on the label scheduled up until Dec and I am looking forward to getting to play some great shows before year end.
Where can people follow you?